The Official Website & Blog of Paxton Allewell. Communications Specialist, Educator, Writer and Designer.
Video
“The Joy of Books” Video by Type bookstore in Toronto
Jan 10th
I came across this cool Toronto bookstore video featuring animated books and more, and I think you’ll like it too. I’m a big fan of books, so it’s fun to see them physically ‘alive.’ I’ll have to check out Type bookstore next time in TO as well. I’m currently reading “A Little History of the World” by E.H. Gombrich and it’s been a pleasure so far – I’m actually learning new stuff! What are you reading?
My Regis Philbin Book Signing Experience…
Dec 9th
I made a quick video of the Regis book signing experience the other night. It was a great time. hope you enjoy.
My Regis Philbin Story VIDEO – This is a follow up video blog to my book signing coverage video from the other day… Find out what we shouted to Regis during the book signing, Angela Aiello is also mentioned in this one and more…Regis’ version of this story would have been probably 1/10 as long and 10X better, but I’m trying, alright!
Another neat thing about my story is that watching Regis reminded me a lot of my (late) grandfather, and watching Kelly reminded me a lot of my sister. So to see them together was kinda like watching my own family. Aside from his talent and such, I’m sure that’s another reason why I liked Regis so much.
New Years Eve 2012 in Niagara Falls – ET Canada Special Preview
Dec 5th
There’s a great entertainment line up in Niagara Falls for this year’s New Years Eve celebration. Check out the special preview video below. It’s really cool that this happens just a short drive away from where I live. I’m thinking of going, looks fun! What are you doing for New Years?
Review: New Feist Music Video – How Come You Never Go There
Dec 3rd
I was flipping through tv channels this morning and came across a good portion of Feist’s new music video for “How Come You Never Go There.”
Some of it was absolutely fresh and captivating, so I went online to watch the whole thing. The black and white cinematography, Feist’s crazy, mysterious curly long hair, (she looks amazing in it too – when you finally get to see her – more on that in a minute) the dramatic natural forest setting, a beautiful cloud sky shot, but something was not quite right with it either. It’s too bad, because a few tweaks would have made this a classic!
I’ve been working on a couple videos of late for work (which I’ve really been enjoying) and I feel it’s sharpened my critical eye. So below I’ve put in some critical feedback on the video…
Please watch the music video and check out some of my suggestions (right below it). Find out if you agree with my thoughts.
As promised, here are a couple suggestions I have for the video if they were to re-do it.
First, a few things I really like about it:
- black and white
- forest scene (day and night)
- smoke
- some wind
- cool hair (didn’t have to be that long though i don’t think)
- sky shot (could have been another, even)
- feist looks amazing (up close)
- emily carr in the forest vibe
What I think could be improved:
- Need to see Feist’s face more in general, and a bit more in particular at the start. At .23 seconds, you should see a glimpse of her face here! Were they trying to be intriguing hiding her like that? I don’t feel it worked, it’s awkward and you should show a little profile so people know who’s song it is…she’s a star! In fact, you barely see her face in the first whole minute of the song. That’s crazy I think, and you should have her signing at least one of the lines in the first minute as well….they wait too long and show her, and then almost too much (mostly getting blown around) at the end of the video.
- .55-58 should again see at least a bit of her, and ideally singing a verse here…instead she ends up looking too witch-like, not like an artistic, reflective, lonely creature
- 1.38 again is too witch-like – switch up the forest setting (new location)!
- 2.12-2.17 is phenomenal and could be repeated like 3 times and it’s still be fun to watch…so why not at least once more! could have been a daytime version of that move as well perhaps?
- 2.25-2.37 could be totally removed. this spot looks really run down after a full day shooting – pick a new untrampled on spop + the wind also starts to get way to extreme here, looks really cold and awkward for here. some cool forest night setting stuff would have been great. a rock, a waterfall, even a quick shot of a frog or an owl or hawk or some creature…
What do you think about the video, or about her new song/cd? Please comment here >>
20 of the most extraordinary blogs/bloggers around today
Sep 19th
The Hitch-hiker’s Guide to the Blogosphere
I gave a talk this past weekend called “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Blogosphere” at Brock University in St. Catharines, Ontario.
The presentation was a multi-media journey through the exciting universe of blogs. I introduced attendees to 20 of the most extraordinary and interesting blogs around today. I was able to take people behind the scenes to learn the stories of the people who run the blogs.
Instead of telling you the whole stories behind each blog, I’ve posted a video to go with each featured blog. You can easily google these people or find out more about them on their websites/blogs. Hopefully you’ll discover a few blogs that you’ll want to follow, and who knows, you might even want to start your own blog!
Please leave a comment below and let me know your favourites! 
Also, come back to my blog soon, as my next blog post will be on how to find the best blogs. Hint: One way is to check out winners from blog awards.
1. Angela Aiello – iYellow Wine Club
www.iyellowwineclub.com/blog
2. Gary Vaynerchuck – Wine Library TV
tv.winelibrary.com
Gary wrapped up his 1,000th Wine Library TV episode just this past spring, and then moved over to his “Daily Grape” iPhone Application where he also posted videos and wine reviews. He then announced his official retirement from daily wine video blogs at the end of August, but you’ve still got a ton of videos to explore!
3. 65 Red Roses
65redroses.livejournal.com
Sadly, Eva Markvoort’s blog “65 Red Roses” is no longer run by Eva as she passed away March 27, 2010. It is now run by her family, but well worth exploring.
4. Julie Powell – Julie & Julia
juliepowell.blogspot.com
You can no longer access Julie’s original Jule & Julia Blog, but she still keeps this blog.
5. Reb Stevenson
rebstevenson.com
6. Facehunter – Yvan Rodic
facehunter.blogspot.com
7. Style Rookie – Tavi Gevinson
www.thestylerookie.com
Continue reading “20 of the most extraordinary blogs/bloggers around today” »
The New Yorker iPad App Commercial
Sep 15th
Jason Schwartzman – who I know mostly as the star of “I Heart Huckabees” (a great movie), has been hired by the New Yorker to do a commercial for their new iPad App.
I haven’t seen many celebrities, if any, do this type of thing yet, so perhaps this is a new trend, but I think he really makes the iPad, and the NYer’s new app look fun and cool. Even more so though, this video is another nudge (maybe even a kick) towards making me want to have an iPad.
What about you? Do you have an iPad? Do you have this app? feel free to comment here
Neil Pasricha’s “The 3 A’s of awesome” TED TALK
Sep 11th
So over the past couple weeks I’ve been preparing for my “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Blogosphere” talk. I’ll be giving at Brock University next weekend and I’m getting more excited about it.
Today as I was working on the talk, I came across award-winning blogger Neil Pasricha’s “awesome” TED talk. In typical ted-talk fashion, it’s short and sweet, and for those curious about his blogging success story, it’s certainly worth the watch. It was cool because while I knew some of his story, I didn’t know he had given a TED talk.
In a nutshell, Pasricha went from blogger, to award-winning blogger, to author, to best-selling author, to author again (sequel), and this past January he became a TED Speaker (video below)…it’s really an amazing blogging success story! It’s also cool to learn what drove him to start his blog www.1000awesomethings.com ~ you’ll have to watch the video to find out. His blog is one of my 20 “most extraordinary and interesting blogs around today” that I will be featuring in my talk.
Tennis Grunts are Awesome?
I read Neil’s blog every once and again and I am usually impressed with the awesome and comforting insights he has about life. The other day though, I had a moment of doubt about his ‘awesome’ leadership. It made me think he had run out of material or something…
He had a post saying ‘Tennis Grunts’ were awesome. Now, I enjoy tennis, and watching tennis. In fact I’ve been catching US Open video highlights the past couple weeks on usopen.org, but I just can’t understand how Tennis grunts are awesome?
Check the comments on this post and you’ll find I’m not the only one who thinks so. The day he posted that blog I thought I’d try to comment and see if he’d publish it. I suggested in my comment that while I didn’t agree about tennis grunts, I did think tennis fits pumps were awesome.
Don’t you love seeing those guys and gals celebrate after a great shot or point. Ever since last year’s US Open (mostly thanks to Nadal) I have made a regular effort to do the ‘fist pump’ when I have a great accomplishment.
Anyways, he didn’t end up publishing it!?! I thought it was right on the money. Not exactly sure why he didn’t? Maybe because I didn’t put my real name in the comment, but lots of commenters don’t – it might also be because I put something like “Fist Pump Fan” as my commenter name, maybe he didn’t like that? Or what if he realized that I one-up-ed him and didn’t like that? who knows, but regardless this guy has millions of people following his blog and tons buying his books.
Here’s the video. Enjoy!
Pretty Awesome Story, eh!
What did you think? What about the tennis grunts? Am I out to lunch? Do you agree with me about tennis fist pumps? You better! Would love to hear your thoughts….feel free to comment here>>
Beauty Day Documentary – Cap’n Video
Jun 18th
Last week a film enthusiast friend of mine asked me last minute if I wanted to see a local documentary playing at the Pen Centre Theatre in St. Catharines. I said sure, sounded interesting.
It turned out to be Beauty Day a documentary about a local Niagara guy who had his own cable show called ‘Cap’n Video’ who was essentially the first “Jackass.” While I’m not drawn to the Jackass-style humour, the doc was outstanding and I’d certainly recommend it. The story, character and style is entertaining for sure, and it was definitely neat to see some local characters and locations in the movie. I wonder if I might see these people around somewhere now? I tend to be pretty good at recognizing people/celebrities.
Anyways, below is the trailer for the doc. Below the trailer is also a video from the premier of Beauty Day at Hot Docs 2011 in Toronto, which is pretty cool and fun.
I’m currently staying tuned for the 20th anniversary show that they made as part of this documentary. Cap’n Video said he’d post it online (as it was not allowed to be aired on TV), but there’s no sign of it yet. It should be fun to watch.
official website: www.beautydaydocumentary.com